There are lots of ways to do work that "matters." For example, I work for a 50 year old company that makes medical devices. Those devices save lives. I'm only a small cog, but I'm working on something that, if it didn't exist, would probably mean some number of people would die or suffer. I'm very grateful to be working on something like that, and it's not a sexy new startup, it's a smallish BigCo.

Look around, find something that interests or matters to you, and consciously move in that direction. Start now.